We Need God in our Lives

 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. Gal 5:16 NLT

What are the works of the sinful nature? The original Greek New Testament calls these the works of the flesh. 

There is nothing wrong with your natural flesh and blood, the organs of your body. God created your body and he does not make bad things. But when we let our flesh and blood direct our lives, things go wrong.

If you are a good driver, your car is a blessing, but if your car engine runs without direction from a driver, it can do untold damage.

God has given you a soul and a spirit, designed to direct your mind and body. If your soul and spirit are closely connected to God’s Spirit, and you are guided by the love and goodness of God, your mind and body will be a blessing.

I have recently listened to sermons about repenting of sin. We need that from time to time, but I had the feeling that something was missing. 

Repenting is not just about not doing bad things. It is not enough to avoid rage, hate and malice. God wants us to love, care and help, not just with outward deeds but moved by genuine concern for others. 

It is not enough to avoid revenge. God wants us to forgive people who hurt or threaten us. It is not enough to avoid bearing grudges. God wants us to love and bless our enemies.

When Jesus was dying on the cross, suffering unspeakable agony, tormented by vile verbal abuse, he cried out to the Father to forgive his tormentors. 

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” … Lk 23:34 NRSV

God wants us to stop doing bad things, but He also wants us to be perfectly pure, kind and loving like Jesus. If we think we can do all of this, we are sadly mistaken. Jesus was the perfect Son of God, God in human form. We are very faulty, flawed human beings. We learned what we know from faulty parents, faulty friends and faulty teachers. 

We can change some of our behaviour with human will power but we need fixing and rebuilding from the inside. 

Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. If we confess our sins, He will forgive us, but we do not have the power to be like Jesus on the inside.

When Jesus was executed, his natural body died, but his spirit lived on. Three days later her returned to this world with a supernatural immortal body. He appeared to his friends and disciples and spent 40 days with them before he returned to heaven. 

A week later the Spirit of God came upon 120 of His followers and changed them from the inside.

Now you and I can have the same blessing, the Spirit of God living inside us and rebuilding our human nature, so we can be more like God on the inside.
If you really want to put your life in God’s hands, just ask Him. He will not turn you away.

Jesus invites us today to come to him to be changed and to have a new life with himself.

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NRSV

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 
Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Lk 11:9–13 NIV